Legalization of marijuana is one of these decisions that can be driven strictly by pragmatic reasoning. Whether legal or not - it's use is fairly common and keeping it illegal will not solve the underlying problem of abuse. So on pragmatic terms, legalizing it allows the Govt to participate in the revenue stream and use a portion of this stream for education about responsible use, etc - or even for fighting the abuse of stronger drugs (eg: opiates). The rest can be used like any other govt revenue stream. In short - instead of criminals making all the profits, the Govt can now get a piece of the action. This is the driving force that will likely see the legalization of weed spread - strictly pragmatic reasoning. I'm 100% for legalization for these reasons. Arguably, legalizing weed will reduce it's perception as a "gateway" drug because users will be able to purchase it from a licensed vendor. These licenses will have value, so vendors would be risking a lot by selling harder drugs under the counter. So less contact with criminal elements who would use weed as a gateway drug to increase their customer base for harder drugs would be reduced.